Great post Sara. Patient experience is multi-dimensional. The dimensions play different roles in creating the experience.

To a person with a hammer (replace with: "as measured by HCAHPS surveys") everything looks like a nail. The answer to their conclusions might lie in the "survey" they used.

On the first day of the move from 1950s Parkland Hospital to the new facility, we knew any challenges of the build & move were worth it because the patient rooms were so spacious & comfortable. After one month, the most impressive result is the dramatic increase in "teachable moments." The environment is quiet, private, & well-equipped providing the possibility of quality communication with patients & their families.

As a healthcare professional and a caregiver to my 89 year old Mother; the surveys sent out are not a true reflection of care given. Sending out a pt discharge survey is a waste of $$ but more importantly is not an accurate reflection of care. Talking to someone either face-to face or via telephone would give better data. Also so many patients are afraid to answer honestly for fear their care may be compromised; that is so sad.compassinate care is what continues to be lacking. I am my Mothers advocate/daughter NOT a visitor. Listen to families that really care for our patients. Remember empathy thank you

While 5-star chefs may be a bit much for a hospital, certainly nutritious and pleasing food matters. As for other amenities like fireplaces and views, they absolutely matter.

HCAHPS surveys are notoriously game-played. Healthcare organizations know the criteria, and how to get high results without having to genuinely change anything. This is always a problem with survey based data, but especially where millions of dollars rest on the results. I suspect the data in the HBR is flawed. Haven't read it though - but it would be a shame not to triangulate findings. Pitty HBR is so naive about the healthcare business!

In my last inpatient experience, I got a few clues to this subject. My room had the best view in the L.A. area, a healing indeed, was pretty and clean. But it left me longing for designers to use a priority list system. My nightstand was where I couldn't reach it - leaving most of my urgent things spending time on the floor. I never saw a whirlpool, but I had one of the world's best physical therapists. (Never mind the others.)

A nurse told me that rooms around the corner, even smaller than mine, had always been in demand because the patients had a nature view. The hospital killed that by erecting a new section high enough to block their view.

The visitor chairs were too big for the narrow space, so I couldn't see a visitor's face. The priest just sat on the bed. Did the bed really have to be in the center, leaving no good aisle? Interior design is not just squares on the paper.

Excellent point. I'm an organizational communication PhD, my dissertation research was done in a hospital, and I couldn't agree with you more. Our physical environments are constructed and reconstructed socially through communication and interaction. The physical environment is part of this process as we draw on artifacts imbued with symbolic meaning. Design of space itself communicates meaning and values and these meanings and values are reinforced again and again by how the space (and the artifact in it) are used.

[…] The design of the healthcare environment is under attack again — this time by a couple of academics that studied whether improving the patient experience has any impact on readmission rates. In an article published last week in the Harvard Business Review online, Management Science Professors Claire Senot and Aravind Chandrasekaran assert that amenities such as health spas, stone fireplaces, and five-star restaurant chefs have little or no impact on the patient experience as measured by HCAHPS surveys. More>> […]